Deformative Mixtape

I finally got around to doing a mix on my shitty litte Gemini all-in-one yoke. I don't have much of a clue how to mix and I'm not even sure if it's possible to 'mix' this kind of stuff but I'm pretty happy with the ideas behind it, if not the execution (clipping, pauses, misuse of pitch-bend). Anyway, it should serve its purpose and give a good idea of the kind of stuff I play. This mix includes thrash-dance from Belfast (above), Johnny Jewel's new project, Electronic Body Music, Italian Horror soundtracks, angry Mexicans, ex-members of the Make-Up and Weird War going disco and other good stuff.

Tracklisting:

1. Goblin - Opening to the Sighs
2. Not Squares - Bi Ka Na
3. Los Microwaves - Forever
4. Excepter - Kill People
5. Cap Pas Cap - We Are Men
6. Liaisons Dangereuses - Los Ninos Del Parque
7. Duchess Says - Tenen Non Neu
8. Detachments - Fear No Fear
9. Desire - Under Your Spell
10. Ssion - Clown
11. XYX - Nunca Nunca
12. Publicist - Chain Gang
13. Medicine and Duty - Jury Rigged
14. Liquid Liquid - Sank Into the Chair
15. Hecuba - Suffering
16. Salem - Whenusleep

Download here.

Go Check Out Lost Boy

My coolest discovery of the week is definitely Lost Boy. He isn't doing anything different at all - in fact what he is doing is very now - which basically means fast, fun, noisy pop music, like Wavves only not balls. It could well be that I will get bored with this in a few weeks or whatever but right now I'm finding it very endearing, great morning music when you are on holidays.

And there two extras +s: 1. He is ridiculously proficient.
2. He posts all this proficiency for free (along with his
other band, Boats) up here!

I haven't gotten through half of it yet but the album 1991 is pure gold!

Simo Soo//Keith! Party//Mickey Gloss//Deformative DJs

This is going to be a FUN gig, and it's in the Pony which rarely has FUN gigs.

Simo Soo is a bit of an oddball from Sydney playing Ipod-overdriven, attention-deficit noise-pop, I've been looking forward to catching him for awhile. Keith! Party are the perfect compliment to Simo's idiosyncratic noise and are debuting a new live DJ in Fletch. Mickey Gloss, also from Sydney, will be opening up proceedings but I know pretty much nothing about them, sorry. I'll be providing toons between bands and for a bit after until whoever the 2am monkeys are this week take over.

Oh, and apparently it's all going out live here - FUN!

PiL Reformation

For a short time, directly after leaving the Sex Pistols, John Lydon was one of the most respected men in music. The mainstream were still salivating at what the former Johnny Rotten could do to shock them next and the alternative community were quickly learning of Lydon's inner-aesthete - his disgust at the white-boy rock of the Sex Pistols and his desire push music into the unheard of territory originally espoused but never delivered upon by Punk. And he did this with Public Image Ltd. Few would deny the power of the first three PiL albums, especially Metal Box, and to varying degrees they remain as benchmarks of experimental music, all the more interesting because of the genuinely unique situation of the biggest rock star of the time collaborating with unknown and rather avant musicians, Keith Levene and Jah Wobble.

Of course, as it had to happen, PiL devolved into a hideous parody of themselves, with Wobble and Levene leaving after the second and third album respectively, leaving Lydon to amass increasingly ridiculous line-ups for increasingly terrible albums. And now, Lydon has announced plans to reform PiL for a series of concerts later in the year. Without Wobble or Levene who rightly want nothing to with it. Lydon has proved himself to be such a cock over the last few years that nobody is treating this as anything more than another desperate cash-grab, no different than the Sex Pistols reformation. We should not be surprised at this, so instead of annoyed ranting I'll end with Simon Reynolds' pertinent anti-epitaph to the once-great band from his brilliant Post-Punk document 'Rip it Up and Start Again':

'Towards the end of his PiL tenure, Levene had noticed a weird development: 'John Lydon sort of became Johnny Rotten again'...Living in America, Lydon found himself feted by awe-struck fans and courted by big-shot managers who encouraged him to exploit his legend to the hilt. Eventually he decided, or realized, that the Sex Pistols adventure was where his rock-myth bread was buttered. After Levene left, the ex-Pistol started to do something during PiL gigs he'd once sworn he'd never do again: sing 'Anarchy in the UK' and 'God Save the Queen'. A decade and a half later, he reformed the Sex Pistol as a touring nostalgia revue, reneging on absolutely everything PiL represented.'

Former Ghosts

I had a major love affair with Xiu Xiu two or three years ago but haven't really been bothered with them for awhile. I guess you could argue that a few years worth of that stuff is enough for a lifetime, hard work as it can be. I still love them and am interested in what they're doing together or individually, even if I think they may be a little bit too prolific for their own good. Therefore, when I heard Jamie Stewart had teamed up with Niki Roza of Zola Jesus, who I like a lot, and Freddy Rupert of This Song is a Mess and so Am I, who I've always meant to get round to listening to, for a project called Former Ghosts, I was pretty excited about checking it out.

Musically the project is very similar to Xiu Xiu, all weird percussion and abrasive electronics. With each having something of a distinctive voice, it's not surprising that they share vocals, although personally I think Niki should be given more opportunities to let loose. There is definitely something special in this collaboration that hasn't been present in most of the other Stewart experiments, such as with Grouper or Larsen. Really, the kick is that this should not be considered a Xiu Xiu side-project, as it really does sound like a real band, rather than ad-hoc wank-abouts between indie darlings. Sorry, that may sound harsh but I really don't like those aforementioned projects.

They have an album coming out in October, or floating around the usual places on the interweb if you can't wait, and there a few tracks up their Myspace, although the album is a lot more varied than the impression you get from these.

Maybe I'll go and listen to Knife Play now...

Blood in the Beard

This is happening on Thursday at the John Curtin. Blood in the Beard is a short-film by Mikey Leonard which will be screened for the first time along with a live score by Rat vs. Possum. RvsP will also be performing a regular set and are joined on the bill by post-hardcore screamers Ouch! My Face and jerky Post-Punk pretty-boys Tic Toc Tokyo. Looks set to be a really cool night and all for a measly 8 bucks.

The Beets

Has the 'Shitgaze' backlash started yet? No, just Wavves? Ok then, before everyone starts claiming they never really liked Times New Viking, No Age, etc, I'll quickly recommend the ultra-lofi and really cool band The Beets. Not to be confused with the fictional band of the same name from personal childhood favorite cartoon Doug, these guys are from New York and play stripped-down, shouty, sing-alongy garage, not a million miles away from Thee Oh Sees. Their album 'Spit in the Face of People Who Don't Want to be Cool' is available now through old blankethead's label Captured Tracks.